


Another Dope Case

by JustSome99Fiction



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSome99Fiction/pseuds/JustSome99Fiction
Summary: The squad is thrown a case that quickly turns into way more than they expected.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
It was 7:30 AM the week before Amy’s maternity leave was ending and Jake’s alarm had just gone off. The volume on his alarm had been turned down to the lowest setting when Mac was born to hopefully avoid waking him or Amy up before they had to, so Jake had gotten much better at getting out of bed as soon as his alarm went off, because as much as he hated waking up, it was worse when he woke everyone else up too. He started his normal routine of getting ready for work, and just as he was finishing getting dressed, Mac started to wake up. Jake knew that it had not been too long since he had eaten last so there was no reason to wake Amy up since he really wanted her to be able to get as much rest as possible before heading back to work next week. He quietly picked his son up and headed to the nursery to change his diaper and get some quiet time before he had to leave. He was hoping that after some cuddles Mac would go back to sleep so he wouldn’t have to wake Amy up when he left for work. Since Mac was born Jake has had a hard time going to work, even when he was working on the dopest of cases. He was currently working on a particularly interesting B and E with Charles and he really felt like they were getting close, even though the investigation was currently at a standstill. He was hoping that the person he was interviewing today would actually have some information since the last two “witnesses” he talked to were absolutely no help at all. Though, right now, that was not at all important to him because he had just successfully put the baby back to sleep and he was only 15 minutes behind schedule. He knew Holt would not be overly happy about him being late for the second time this week, )which wouldn’t generally be a big deal except that it was only Wednesday) but he had been more understanding of Jake’s tardiness since Mac was born. He quietly went back to his and Amy’s room to put Mac back in his crib and say bye to Amy before throwing on his jacket and grabbing his bag and heading to the precinct.

While on his way to work he couldn’t stop thinking about the case he was working. There was something strange about it and he couldn’t quiet figure it out. He hadn’t been working on it for very long, and he’d only met with the victim twice, but he had a weird feeling about her. He thought he recognized her from somewhere but couldn’t quiet place where. He was walking himself through the case again in his head when it hit him. He had seen the victim somewhere! He recognized her from when he was in jail in South Carolina. He had seen her there visiting someone during one of the times Amy and Charles had come to visit him. He mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner because when he had interviewed her the first time, she said the break in happened when she was in South Carolina for a business trip. He hadn’t thought to ask her what kind of business because it didn’t seem relevant, but now it makes so much more sense. The only things that she reported missing were some mail, her address book, her computer, and some jewelry given to her by her boyfriend. He did find it weird that, one: she had a physical address book since most people keep those electronically (but Amy has a physical one too, so, its not so strange) and two: that she had not taken her laptop with her on a business trip, but he had dropped that when she told him that she had a work issued computer that she had taken with her. Jake was now just getting to work, almost a full half hour late, when he got a text from Amy thanking him for taking care of Mac so that she could sleep a little more and wishing him luck on his case.

Charles was already at his desk working when Jake arrived, so he hastily threw his stuff towards his own desk before sitting down in the chair next to Charles’s desk to tell him about what he had figured out on his way to work this morning. After he told Charles about his hunch that the break in had something to do with the victim’s boyfriend in jail, they decided that it would be good to head to South Carolina to find some more info about it. He had figured that the mail may have been letters that the victim had gotten from her boyfriend and that whoever had stolen them also stole the other things to get some more info about him. Jake went to Holt’s office to brief him and double check that it was alright for him and Charles to head to the jail. Holt agreed that it was a good lead, but expressed his concerns about Jake going back to the prison he had so many painful memories about. Jake knew that he had a right to be concerned since every time he went back there, he was jumpy and a bit out of it for several days after. Granted he had only been back to interview Caleb about the missing hearts case, but it did seem to bring up the bad memories from his time there. After assuring Holt that it was really important to the case and that he would be fine, Holt agreed to let Jake and Charles go.

Jake gave Charles a smile and two thumbs up as he left Holt’s office indicating that they were all set to head out, but told him that he needed to call Amy first to let her know the plan and that it may mean that he would probably be working late and wouldn’t be home when his regular shift ends. Charles squealed at the mention of Jake calling Amy, because even though it was a fairly normal thing and they had been together for a long time, Charles was still always so excited for any glimpse into their personal life and relationship. Jake brushed off his friend’s weird behavior (well weird for normal people, but totally normal for Charles) and walked into the break room to call Amy. Amy answered on the third ring, which before Mac would have been really late for Amy, but now that she was in charge of taking care of a tiny human, Jake was lucky if she was able to answer the first time he called at all. “Hey, babe” she answered. Jake noticed that she was barely louder than a whisper, which likely meant that she had just put Mac down for a nap and didn’t want to disturb him. “Hey Ames, do you have a second to talk?” She replied that she did since their baby was finally down for his morning nap and Jake silently congratulated himself for being right before saying “well, you know that case Charles and I have been working? We just got a pretty solid lead, but I don’t think you are going to be really happy about it.” “Jake, what are you talking about?” she said, sounding more than a little concerned. “So the victim has a boyfriend in prison in South Carolina and Charles and I need to head down there to talk with him, and the guards, warden, and anyone else that may help with the case, and that means I’ll definitely be working later than expected, but everything is going to be fine.” She was silent on the other end for a few seconds longer than Jake would have liked because he knows that means that she is not happy about his plan. When she finally answered, she said “Jake, are you sure about this? When you first got home from jail you hardly ate or slept. You wouldn’t even tell me most of the stuff that happened for a long time. You just weren’t yourself. And I know that you hid the extent of your trauma from everyone at work pretty well, but we lived together and I know how hard it was for you to adjust. Not to mention the nightmares and uncharacteristic quietness after you visited Caleb there last time. I’m worried about that.” He knew she was right, but he wasn’t going to half-ass his job. He was a cop solving a case so he wasn’t going to let it stop him. “I know.” He replied. “I’m a little worried too, but I need to do this. I’m going to be with Charles and its going to be fine. I’ll call or text or whatever to keep you updated, but I really want to solve this case, and I think this is the best way to do it.” “Ok” she said, “but if you need anything and you don’t tell me, so help me god” but before she could say anything else, Mac started to get loud and fussy, so Jake cut in “Its ok. Go take care of Mac. I love you.” “Love you too, Jake” and hung up. 

Jake took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second before leaving the break room to go find Charles. He also had to call the potential witness he was supposed to meet with today to ask if they could either reschedule or if they would mind talking to someone else at the precinct. They agreed, so Jake told them that Detective Diaz would take their statement and hung up. He and Charles went to Rosa’s desk to brief her on the case and told her to expect the witness to show up sometime that morning before heading out. Jake knew that it was going to be a long drive to the prison and that the closer they got the more anxious he was going to get, so he told Charles that he was going to pick the music for the first half of the drive and Charles could pick it for the second half. Charles also informed him excitedly that he had packed them some road trip snack bags while Jake was on the phone with Amy. To which Jake responded “Charles, buddy, I love you, but if you think I’m going to drive to South Carolina with you in a car that smells like fish or anything fermented, you are very very wrong.” Charles just looked at him and smiled and said “well what about a trail mix that I made from a wide variety of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds from around the world?!” Considering that Charles had made so many worse sounding snacks for them in the past, that did not sound too bad, especially considering that nuts were some of his favorite things to eat when he got snacky on the job. “Alright man, lets hit it” “Yes!” Charles squeak shouted and pumped his fists before grabbing his coat and bag.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
Meanwhile, Amy was back at home getting simultaneously excited and nervous for her maternity leave to be over in just a few days. She had been so thankful for the time that she had been given to rest and bond with her baby, but she was not cut out to be a stay at home parent. She hadn’t realized how hard it was to be the one in charge of keeping up the household while Jake went to work. She even found that as much as she loved her actual baby, she missed her work babies. She started calling her officers that because that’s what Terry called his squad, but it didn’t quiet feel the same, so she opted to just think about them as her officers. Speaking of Terry, she was beyond grateful to him and Sharron because they offered to let Mac stay at their house during the work day because Sharron was a stay at home mom and would take care of him so she and Jake wouldn’t have to find a baby sitter or daycare yet. Mac was a pretty easy baby, but she and Jake were definitely not ready to let a stranger look out for him, even with nanny cams and background checks. Amy had put together several very detailed baby sitting binders even though she knew and trusted Sharron to take care of Mac. They had done a few practice runs, first with her watching Mac at Jake and Amy’s apartment while they were there so they could get some undisturbed rest, and then another time so Jake and Amy could have a long overdue date night before finally letting Sharron watch Mac at the Jeffords’s house while Jake and Amy attended one of her brother’s weddings, so Amy felt confident that everything would be ok when she returned to work. Amy had mostly gotten over her FOMOW by now though because she had loved getting to watch Mac grow, plus she made Jake tell her all about he cases that he had been working. Mac was doing amazing and he had been hitting all his major milestones. She was currently sitting on their couch with her legs on the coffee table so her knees were bent and Mac was sitting on her lap with his back leaning against her legs so he was partially sitting up facing her. He had recently started smiling and making funny faces at Jake and Amy and they loved every second of it. He was smiling and babbling at her while reaching for the soft rattle she was holding out to him. They had avoided taking him to the precinct as much as they could since police stations are not the cleanest or safest places for babies, but she really wanted some fresh air and she was still worried about Jake’s trip to South Carolina, so she figured it would help to get to see Holt, Rosa, and Terry, so after feeding Mac, she got him all settled in his car seat and headed out. When she arrived, Holt and Terry were talking in his office with the door closed, so she knew it was probably important and didn’t want to bother him, and Rosa was in the interrogation room with a perp, so she headed to Jake’s desk to wait.

Rosa was actually not interrogating a perp when Amy arrived, but she was talking to the witness for Jake and Charles’s case, and she was learning some things that made this whole case even more suspicious, or as she knew Jake would call it, dope. The witness happened to be the younger brother of the victim’s boyfriend. His name was Alex Abrams and he was barely 18, though looked even younger because his hair was pretty shaggy and he was definitely not the biggest guy Rosa had seen. After Rosa told him that Jake and Charles were on their way to meet with his brother in prison, he confessed that he was the one that had stolen the stuff from the victim’s apartment. It made more sense why no one mentioned him though when Charles had interviewed the neighbors now, because they knew he would come and go regularly, so none of them found it suspicious. Alex told Rosa that his brother had been convicted for assault after fighting with and almost killing a local drug dealer that had been hassling his girlfriend. His brother had always had some issues with impulse control, so it didn’t surprise him when it got him into some real trouble. Alex told Rosa that since his brother, Michael, had been arrested when Alex was still pretty young, his mom hadn’t let him visit or have any contact with him. His only contact was through Michael’s girlfriend Jamie Masters, and he had only found her by hacking the prison’s computer system to see if anyone had been visiting his brother and he tracked her down. Despite the fact that Alex was technically confessing to several different crimes, Rosa was actually pretty impressed by it all and sympathized with him for just wanting a relationship with his brother. He told Rosa that he hadn’t planned on stealing anything from Jamie, but after accidentally reading some of the letters that were between Michael and Jamie, he learned that they were both into some shady things and he needed to find out more. He learned that the fight that his brother had with the drug dealer was just a cover so that Jamie could break into his car and steal a bunch of drugs and guns that he was on his way to sell. It ended up getting the dealer killed because his boss was pissed that he had lost so much merchandise. Alex learned that this apparently wasn’t even the first time that they had pulled this same job, this was just the first time the self defense argument hadn’t worked and he actually got arrested. This was bad, the type of people who ripped off drug dealers for a living were not people to be messed with, and Jake and Charles were on their way to meet with this Abrams dude without any of this intel. They knew that he was in prison for assault and that he was about to be released because his sentence was over, but they didn’t have any other information.

Jake and Charles were making good progress and had only made a few stops for coffee and to use the bathroom. They were both genuinely enjoying the chance to spend time together without being busy with work or family things, because even though they were technically working, they were able to just talk and sing and goof around while driving. They were about halfway to the prison when Rosa called them with an update on the case. Charles put her on speaker phone so they could all three talk. After Rosa had filled them in, Jake just said “Shit” and Rosa replied “Yeah. I think you guys should come back and we can look through all the evidence the kid brought in. We have a bunch of letters, addresses, emails, and computer files to look through here. I think we need to figure out what they are up to and where they are going before we make contact with these guys. They are way more dangerous than we thought and its definitely a bad idea to meet up with them without backup.” Just as she was saying that, Rosa realized that Amy was at Jake’s desk and had overheard her whole conversation. “Also, Peralta, I may have just accidentally said that in front of your wife and she doesn’t look happy, so have fun with that. Bye” and she hung up before Jake or Charles could say anything else. Jake sighed and let his head fall forward onto the steering wheel before answering his phone. He already knew that it was Amy before he looked at the screen. In his most fake happy voice he answered and said “Hey Ames, I heard you are at the precinct, that’s so fun, how’s that going?” She was not amused. “Jake, I know what you are thinking, and Rosa is right. You really should not follow up on this until you have more information on what this guy is up to.” Again in his fake happy voice he responded “yes, Charles and I were for sure not about to go look for him anyway and single handedly bring down a guy that steals from drug dealers while looking super cool. We were definitely going to turn right around and head back to the nine nine empty handed.” “Don’t lie to me, Jake. Now put me on speaker phone.” She waited for a second before speaking again and said “Boyle, Peralta, if you don’t listen to what Rosa just said about these guys being dangerous and not going in without more intel and back up, neither of you will ever be allowed to see Mac again.” And to emphasize her point even further, she went quiet and held the phone near Mac who had been happily playing with his stuffed rattle and babbling so they could hear him. Jake and Charles looked at each other and simultaneously, and very quickly, said “yes ma’am, Sargent. On our way back.” After Amy hung up, Jake looked over at Charles and just said “Damn. She’s good.” And Charles just nodded in response before turning around to head back to New York.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
Holt and Terry had heard what was going on and decided that this case was to be prioritized. It had started as a seemingly low stakes break in, but it was now obviously much more serious. Holt agreed to let Amy help with the case even though she was still on maternity leave because it was abundantly clear that she was not about to let it go and there was little that could stop Sargent Santiago when Jake, or any other member of the squad for that matter, was in danger. Additionally, he had to admit that he had missed her during her 3 months away from the nine nine and was happy to be able to work with her again. Terry offered to call Sharron to come pick up Mac and watch him, but Amy turned down the offer and instead just strapped Mac to her with the baby carrier that Jake had in his desk. It had been a gift from Gina a few weeks ago that Jake had forgotten to take home, but she was now particularly grateful for his occasional absent mindedness. Rosa, Amy, Terry, and Captain Holt gathered up all the evidence that Alex had brought in as well as the messy stack of papers and files from Jake’s desk and took it to the briefing room so they could sort through it and see everything more easily. 

Amy was so happy to be back at work, doing what she loved, that she had almost forgotten the tiny person that had taken up so much of her time and energy recently. Almost being the key word there because, even though he was securely strapped to her chest, she had not taken her hand away from him for more than a few seconds at a time, and he was starting to get a little fussy. She knew that he was probably hungry since it had been a few hours since his last meal, so she grabbed the diaper bag she had set down by Jake’s desk and excused herself to Captain Holt’s office, since it had a door, blinds, and a couch so she could feed Mac. Mac was very happy to be out of the carrier because he started to quietly babble and smile as Amy gently bounced him up and down on Holt’s couch. Mac was old enough that when he was held with his feet over a flat surface, he could hold a little weight on his legs and loved to be bounced. After a few minutes of that, he started whining and reaching for Amy’s shirt. Amy knew exactly what that meant, so she pulled him up to her chest and started nursing him. Just a few minutes later, she heard Jake and Charles return. She knew he mush have sped on his way back to the precinct because he made a 4 hour drive in just over 2 and a half hours. A few minutes later there was a soft knock on the door along with Jake’s voice asking if he could come in. She obviously obliged and was happy to see him safe when he entered and quietly closed to door as to not bother Mac. He sat down on the couch next to her and she felt herself relax and realized just how tense she had been since talking with him on the phone that morning. Jake could tell how worried she was, and he looked down at the floor and softly said “I know you’ve been worried. I’m really sorry.” “Jake,” he looked back up at her “its alright. I am always going to worry about you, but I trust your judgement. As childish and reckless and irresponsible as you can be sometimes, I know that you wouldn’t do anything that would cause you to lose all this.” She said as she motioned to their little family. He also relaxed a little at that and smiled and said “yeah. I obviously cannot go anywhere, at least until you let me show Mac the hero he was named after.” Amy laughed a little and responded “Nice try, babe. Its gonna be at least a few years. I think that movie is a little intense for my sweet little guy.” “But I watched it as a kid!” he protested “And I turned out fine.” “Yes, but you also like putting yourself in danger and jumping of roofs and things like that, and I am not about to let him do that. Not yet at least.” “I guess that’s fair.” Mac, at this point, was clearly done with this conversation because he pulled his head back and looked at Jake and started reaching for him. The biggest smile came over Jake’s face as he reached out to take Mac from Amy and held him close while smelling his head. Even though Mac didn’t have the newborn baby smell anymore, Jake still loved it. That is until Mac spit up on him a little and cause Jake to let out a slightly disgruntled “gross, dude.” He was not actually upset though because he was just happy to get to hold is own baby boy. Amy just laughed at him and handed Jake a small towel to clean it up while she started packing the diaper bag back up. “Now, we still have a case to solve” she said.

Jake, Amy, and Mac went back to the briefing room where everyone else was still going over the case material when Jake noticed that Mac was still a little fussy. He told Amy that he was going to change him real quick and grabbed the diaper bag from Amy and headed back to Holt’s office. Captain Holt did not love this use of his office, but he knew that it was the best and safest place for Mac in the precinct, so he put up with it. Jake returned to the briefing room a few minutes later with a clean, happy, full baby in the carrier on his chest. Everyone was honestly impressed that Jake was able to figure out how to adjust the baby carrier, but they were also wrapped up in the case, so the conversation quickly turned back to their next plan. It did not take them too long to figure out that Abrams and Masters had a storage unit a few miles away, because even though they had opened it using cash and under a fake name, they used Jamie’s personal email address and phone number on the account. Terry and Rosa quickly went to the storage unit to see it there was anything there that could help the squad find them, and hit the jackpot. They found a sizable amount of drugs along with quiet a few illegal weapons. It didn’t tell them anything else about where they might be now or if they have anything else planned, but they were able to match the guns and drugs to several open cases. Jake again used this to remind everyone that some criminals are so dumb for leaving evidence like that just lying around and he would be a better criminal than them, to which everyone looked at him and just rolled their eyes and reminded him how long it had been since he had actually won a heist. He grumbled about it for a minute before noticing that Alex was still sitting next to Rosa’s desk in the bull pen and getting and idea. He told them that he had an idea and that he’d be right back before leaving the briefing room. Everyone looked at him and shrugged as he quickly left the room. He knew that Rosa was not going to love that he was about to sit down at her desk, but he wasn’t worried about that at the moment. Mac had fallen asleep about an hour ago, and he was a pretty sound sleeper, so Jake wasn’t worried about waking him up by just carrying him around while he worked since he figured it was safer to hold him than put him in his car seat. Jake sat down and introduced himself to Alex. Alex was obviously scared and uncomfortable, so talking to Jake was significantly easier with Mac present. After introducing himself, Jake started some small talk while carefully taking Mac out of the carrier so he could just hold the baby while he slept so that Mac could at least lay down a little, which Jake figured was better than sleeping upright. Jake told Alex that Det. Diaz had filled him in on everything and that they were looking for his brother but could use some help. Alex was hesitant to say anything because he didn’t want to see his brother go back to jail, but then Jake told him that they knew about the secret storage unit. This was obviously a surprise to Alex because he sighed and let his head fall a bit. “You’re a smart kid, so I’m sure you know that as soon as word gets out about this, your brother is going to be in some pretty hot water with some very powerful and dangerous people.” Alex nodded. He hadn’t known all the stuff his brother had done, but he knew that he had pissed off a lot of people and they would not stop looking until he has paid them back. He also knew that if the drug dealers he had ripped off didn’t know that it was Michael and Jamie before, they were going to find out pretty quickly once there was a warrant out for their arrest, so he agreed to work with the detectives to find them.

It was well past when their shifts were over, so they agreed to put the next part of their plan into action first thing the next day. Jake was glad that he had taken the subway to work that morning because it meant that he could drive Amy and Mac home without leaving his car at the precinct since he could tell that Amy was pretty worn out. This was the first time that she had been basically back at work for a full day even though she is still not technically back at work. “So, Santiago,” he started, “how was it being back on the job?” She was quiet for a second before responding “it was actually really nice. I love Mac, but I forgot how much fun it is to be working. You know, using my brain for more than wooden block puzzles and baby songs.” Jake nodded. He knew how hard it had been for her to be away from work for so long. They were both really excited to have a baby, but one of the things that they were the most concerned about was balancing work and family. “Real talk alert: Do you still think we made the right choice about growing our family?” he said nervously. Without even a second thought Amy responded “I would not change a thing. This is something I have always wanted and I know that you worry about working and being a parent, but I think we are crushing it.” Jake let out a sigh of relief. He was worried about being a working dad and not being around enough for his kid, but in the last three months he realized how awesome it was to have a little person that he loved literally more than the whole world and still be able to feel good about making the world a better place for him. But instead of saying all that he just smiled and nodded and said “good. Me too.” The rest of the ride home was much more relaxed. They just talked quietly about all kinds of random things over the Taylor Swift music that Jake had playing in the background. It was almost 9 PM when they arrived home, so Amy fed, bathed, and changed Mac for bed while Jake ordered some take-out for him and Amy. Despite the crazy day they all had, Mac went straight to sleep and Jake and Amy sat together happily on the couch half watching a documentary about Earth’s atmosphere. About 40 minutes into the documentary, Amy realized that Jake was completely asleep. She had been resting against his side with his arm around her shoulders and she felt his breathing slow down and his head started to get heavier as it leaned against hers. She turned off the tv before gently putting her hand to his chest and waking him up so they could go to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
His alarm went off at what felt like way too early, but Jake was so close to solving this case, so he knew he had to get up. It took him a minute or so of waking up to realize that Amy’s side of the bed was empty and Mac wasn’t in his crib. He silently cursed because he hates it anytime Mac wakes up or cries and he doesn’t notice. He got out of bed and got dressed before heading into the nursery to look for Mac and Amy, but they weren’t there, so he checked the rest of the apartment, getting more and more nervous with each empty room. He rushed back to their bedroom to grab his phone and frantically called Amy. She answered right away and he let out a huge sigh of relief. “Jeez, Ames, where are you!?” “Hey, I’m on my way home from Terry’s house. I just dropped Mac off for the day. I was meaning to be home by the time you got up since I didn’t want to wake you when we left.” “Oh thank god. You guys were gone and I totally freaked out. Wait. Why are you dropping Mac off. You don’t officially come back to work for another few days.” “I know” she said “but I am not about to let you all solve this case without me. Plus, I really don’t love having Mac in the precinct for that long. I know he didn’t fuss too much yesterday, but its better for him to not be there. I’m really sorry I scared you.” He was still a bit shaky, but was now calming down and responded “gotcha. Ok. Well, I guess I’ll see you in a few minutes and then we can head to work.” They hung up, and Jake was definitely a little sad that he hadn’t gotten to say bye to his baby before leaving for the day, but he was really excited to get to have Amy back at the nine nine and getting to work a case together.

Jake and Amy got to the precinct just as Charles was getting there, so the elevator ride up to the bull pen was filled with all kinds of probing questions about how their night was and if they are ready to be back at work. They all went to the briefing room and decided that the best way to draw their perps out was to have Alex call and ask to meet up. They knew that they couldn’t send him undercover or anything because he was a civilian and pretty much still a kid, but he could safely call his brother from the precinct. As a precaution, they had an officer stationed outside his apartment the night before, so when they called Alex and he didn’t answer, they all got a little more suspicious. They had told him that he would need to come to the station tomorrow and he agreed that finding his brother was the best thing for all of them, so it was more than a little worrying when he didn’t answer the second time they called him either. They radioed the officer that was outside his apartment to knock on the door while Jake and Charles drove over to see what was up. When Jake and Charles arrived, the officer informed them that no one had gone in or out that he had seen, but that Alex had not answered the door. Jake pounded on the door and yelled “NYPD open up!” and after waiting about 3 seconds, he kicked the door down and entered with his gun drawn, Charles not far behind while the uniformed officer radioed for backup. It was obvious that there had been some kind of struggle since there were a few chairs that had been knocked over as well as a broken lamp. Jake and Charles began to quickly, but cautiously, check the rest of the apartment even though they were pretty sure whoever was there was long gone by now. After finding the rest of the place empty, Charles found a note on the kitchen counter that said “Abrams, little brother is alive. If you want to keep him that way, bring me my money. You have until Friday at 5 PM.” Jake and Charles had just finished reading the note when the rest of the squad arrived. Everyone got very quiet when Charles showed the note to them because they all knew that this just became a ticking clock situation, and they didn’t have much time since it was already Thursday 9 AM.

They swept the scene for any clues but came up short. There were no fingerprints or blood, and the only DNA evidence was Alex’s, but it was his house, so that didn’t mean anything. They were about to leave when Amy heard a cell phone buzzing. It was clearly not a phone that Alex used regularly because she found it shoved under the corner of his mattress. It was only by chance that it happened to start buzzing while she was searching his room for other clues. The caller ID said it was “big bro” so she could only assume it was Abrams calling. She quickly handed it to Jake because if anyone could keep a stranger talking for long enough to get any information, it was him. “Hello” Jake answered. The voice on the other end sounded frantic “Alex! Oh, man, so glad to hear. . . wait, you’re not Alex. Who is this?” “Hey, my name is Carl.” Jake replied. He picked Carl because if he had to go undercover with a drug stealing convict, he figured it would be good to be someone who has contacts in the criminal world, like the Pontiac Bandit’s right hand man, Carl Mangerman. “I’m a friend of Alex. Who are you?” “I’m his brother, now give him the phone, I don’t have time for this.” Jake replied “Yeah, that’s gonna be tough. I just got to his place and he’s not here. Its trashed and the cops are on the way. Is there somewhere we can meet?” “Shit!” Abrams yelled. “Meet me in the park 4 blocks north of Alex’s place. Come alone. If you are tricking me in any way, I will fucking end you. Got it?” “Yep, very cool. Cool cool cool. Unarmed, alone, no tricks. Got it.” And before Jake could say anything else, the call was over. He hadn’t had time to put the call on speaker, so the squad only heard his half of the conversation, but from his last line, they knew it was bad. 

Jake told them what Abrams had said and that they didn’t have time to set up surveillance or call in backup before the meeting, so if they were going to catch this guy and get Alex back, he had to do this now. No one was happy about it, but they all agreed that this was the best way to catch a really bad guy. They all got in their cars and got within a block of the meeting place. Luckily, since it was a public park, there were plenty of other people around, so at least the squad could blend in, but unfortunately, if something went wrong, they wouldn’t be able to do much without putting quiet a few civilians in danger. Jake took off his badge, gun, and button up shirt, he figured he looked less like a cop in his plain t-shirt than with his button up on. He was getting ready to leave his car and walk to the park when Amy walked over. The others were on their way to their undercover spots, so it was just the two of them. She was clearly very nervous and couldn’t control the slight shaking in her voice when she leaned in and hugged him. “Please be careful. I know you are going to be fine, but I hate that we can’t back you up better on this.” “I will. I love you, Ames.” He said before giving her a kiss. The hug lasted a few more seconds before he pulled away and gave her a small smile and a single nod of his head. He knew the rest of the squad could see them, but neither of them cared. They were all as close as family anyway and he knew how worried every one of them was.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Jake walked confidently around the playground and through some grass to an empty bench near some trees where he waited. It couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes, even though it felt like so much longer, when the phone he had from Alex’s place began to ring. He answered it “Yeah?” to which Abrams responded “I still don’t trust you. There is a black SUV in the parking lot with its headlights on. Go get in.” and he hung up. Jake was still for a moment before taking a deep breath and silently heading towards the car. The squad couldn’t hear anything, so they just saw Jake get up and walk over and get inside a strange car. Everyone held their breath because they now could neither see nor hear anything that was going on. Holt was immediately on the phone with someone back in the nine nine reading out the license plate number so they could get any clue as to what is going on. Meanwhile inside the car, Jake was met by a familiar face. Jamie was in the driver’s seat and Michael was in the backseat opposite to the side Jake got in. During all the craziness of the case, everyone had pretty much forgotten that Jake and Michael Abrams had been in the same prison at the same time, so as soon as Jake opened the door and saw him, it hit him like a bucket of cold water. Abrams knew exactly who he was and he had a gun pointed right at Jake. “Get in, cop.” He said the word “cop” as if it were poisonous, and Jake knew he had no choice. He got in the car and slowly closed the door. Jake didn’t really know Abrams, but they had seen each other, and pretty much everyone in the jail knew Jake since he was a cop. The car was still parked, so Jake took that as a good thing and slowly started talking. “Hey, so obviously we all go way back, and that’s super fun. So glad to see that you are now out of jail and holding me at gunpoint. But anyway, lets chat.” Jake was smiling at them trying to keep everything calm and not show how much he was freaking out, and he almost thought it was working when Abrams looked over at him and smiled before saying “how about not.” Then hit Jake in the head with his gun hard enough to make Jake see stars before blacking out.

The squad had not taken their eyes off the SUV for even a second since Jake got in and closed the door. Now, after what felt like forever, the SUV peeled out of the parking lot and was speeding away. They all jumped into action. Rosa and Terry took off on foot after the car while Amy, Charles, and Holt sprinted back to their cars, parked a block away to avoid suspicion, to chase after. By the time they were in the cars, the SUV with Jake in it was long gone. They picked up Terry and Rosa and sped back to the precinct. Thankfully the license plate informed them that the car was in fact registered to Michael Abrams, so they could at least confirm that it was him. They frantically worked to find any kind of lead and scoured through all their files for an almost two hours before Terry found a link between Masters and an empty warehouse. They hadn’t seen the link before because the squad was all more focused on places they might be hiding, but since they didn’t own the warehouse or anything it hadn’t come up on their records. They only found it because they finally got a warrant to see their phone history and she had texted the address to several different people over the years. Terry put together that it was probably the place that she and Abrams meet up with the people they are selling the stolen guns and drugs to. Additionally, a traffic camera had picked up a black SUV heading in that direction. “Yes! Terry has something!” he shouted before running into the briefing room from his desk where her was working on his computer. He showed the squad what he had found, so they called SWAT and all geared up and sped to the warehouse.

The several hours between when Jake had been taken and the squad figured out where he might be were more than enough time for Jake and his old prison friend to get reacquainted. While unconscious, Abrams and Masters frisked him and found that Jake was indeed unarmed and didn’t have a mic or tracker on him, so they felt pretty safe knowing that no one knew where he was. Jake was just coming to as he was being dragged out of the car and duct taped to a chair. “Oh, not again.” Jake muttered, which earned him a quick backhand to the face. “OW!” he yelled, but quieted down very quickly when Abrams threatened to hit him again. “Where is my brother!? What do you want?” He shouted. Jake tried and failed to come up with any kind of story, so decided that the only way he had any chance of getting out of this was telling the truth. “Ok. I am not trying to pull anything and I don’t know where Alex is.” He was about to continue when he got another punch to the gut. Jake groaned before continuing “Look, I was looking into the break in at your girlfriend’s apartment. I had thought I had recognized her from somewhere but couldn’t remember where, so I kept working the case, hoping to figure it out. I had interviewed a few witnesses, but got nowhere when I remembered that I had seen her visiting someone in prison, so my partner and I were on our way to South Carolina to see if that had anything to do with the break in. I was supposed to interview this kid, I didn’t know he was your brother, but I also needed to follow up on the prison lead, so I asked another detective to interview him.” Out of the blue, Michael punched him in the face again. “Hey!” Jake yelled “What was that for, I’m telling the truth.” Jake was tasting blood now and could tell that his lip was pretty badly split. Abrams didn’t answer, so Jake continued “Alex told her that he had stolen the stuff from your girlfriend because he saw a letter about you getting mixed up in some shady stuff. He was worried about you and wanted to figure out what was going on. Anyway, after that, the detective called me, so my partner and I turned around and headed back to New York to figure out what we were up against. Alex agreed to help us track you down because he was worried that all the drug lords you stole from and pissed off were going to hurt you.” Michael had been pacing back and forth in front of Jake while he was talking and suddenly stopped. He turned and lunged straight at Jake and grabbed his shirt collar while very quietly growling “Then where the fuck is my brother.” “I don’t know. We stationed an officer outside of his apartment last night. We called him this morning and when he didn’t answer, we went to his place to check on him and he was gone. We found a note, but before we could do anything, you called the phone and I answered, and I think you were pretty much there for the rest.” At that, Abrams pushed Jake so hard that the chair he was tied to tipped backwards. Jake yelled as his head hit the cement floor behind him, but luckily it wasn’t hard enough to do any more damage than the gun had done earlier. The fall also knocked the wind out of him, but he was still alive, so he counted that as a win. “Why didn’t you tell me about the note!” Abrams yelled. “Well you hadn’t really given me the chance yet, so that’s not totally on me now is it.” Jake’s response was clearly a bit too snarky for Abrams’s liking because he was quick to kick Jake in the side before setting the chair upright again. “Ok, well it said that you have until 5 PM on Friday to pay whoever took him if you want to see him alive. I don’t know who took him since the note didn’t say, but I’m assuming you do since you have made it your life’s work to steal from dangerous people.” As soon as he said it Jake knew that last bit may not have been necessary, so he braced himself for another punch. When it didn’t come, he relaxed a little and looked over at Abrams who was now pacing again. “Alright, cop. I do know who is doing this and I know what I need to do, so I gotta go, but I’ll be back. But if anything goes wrong, or my brother is hurt in anyway, I am coming back here, and I’m gonna kill you.” “Cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt no doubt. Killing me. Very cool.” Jake’s rambling was cut off by a strip of duct tape being forcefully put against his face. “Now you stay put” Abrams said with a smile before storming off.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Jake had been sitting in the dark for no more than 30 minutes alone before he heard the commotion. His back was to the door so he couldn’t see what was happening, but he saw a dozen flashlight beams sweeping the warehouse around him followed by hearing Amy’s voice shouting his name and footsteps fast approaching. His head was still throbbing and he was shaking a bit, but when Amy and the rest of the squad came into view he felt 100 times better. She took the duct tape off his mouth and just held his face while Rosa cut the tape that was tying his arms and legs to the chair. He tried to stand up, but they all told him not to. Instead he just sat for a second before reaching up to where one of Amy’s hands was on his chest and holding it before quietly saying “I’m alright.” There were paramedics arriving to check him out, so he allowed them to carry him on a stretcher to the ambulance. He did however request that they check him out there instead of taking him to the hospital because he knew that at most he had a few broken ribs, some bruising, and a concussion and he really didn’t want to go to the hospital. They only agreed after a few minutes of arguing and the promise that his wife, a police sergeant, would take him to the hospital if anything got worse. It was an hour later when they finally let him leave with Amy and some strict guidelines about pain management and letting his body heal before going back to work. By that time, the rest of the squad had gone back to the precinct and the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain meds were kicking in. Just then, Jake shouted, startling Amy, about Alex still being missing and Abrams and Masters getting away. He hadn’t realized that the squad and SWAT had run into Abrams as he was leaving the warehouse, arrested him and Masters, who had apparently been in the car the whole time Abrams was beating on Jake, and had gotten the info about who was holding Alex hostage and where. The squad was on the way there now. “Oh.” Jake sighed. “That’s awesome.” Amy was half expecting Jake to ask to go too, not like she was going to let him, but she was surprised when he didn’t.

Jake closed his eyes and was just focusing on breathing, which is considerably more painful with cracked ribs, when he heard Amy on the phone with Sharron. She was telling her that she and Jake were alright and were on their way to pick Mac up from her house. After she hung up, Jake opened his eyes and looked over to her, and quietly confessed to her that while he was tied up in the warehouse, he wasn’t sure he would ever see her or Mac again. Amy’s heart sped up and she could feel tears forming in her eyes and she said “I know. I watched you get in that car and I was terrified that you weren’t going to come back.” “So do you still not regret anything about me or our family?” She was quiet for a second before responding “No. I love you and I love Mac. I worry about one of us getting injured while on duty, but this is what we do. This is how we fit into the world and I am not giving up any part of it. Mac is going to grow up knowing that the world can be a dangerous place, and he may even be scared sometimes, but he is also going to know that his parents love him so much that they are out there risking their lives in order to make it safer for him.” The rest of the drive to the Jeffords’s house was quiet, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It was more the kind of quiet that happened when neither of them needed to say anything because just being close by was enough. They picked up Mac and headed home for a quiet evening. It didn’t stay quiet for very long however because as soon as Mac was settled in his car seat, he babbled to his parents the whole way home. Jake and Amy still felt shaken up and exhausted, but everything suddenly felt alright with the world. They got home and fed Mac and then had leftover take-out from the night before, and even though the day had been completely full and very busy, it was only about 7 PM. After they put Mac down for the night Amy suggested they could watch Die Hard, but Jake just shook his head. This was something she recognized from the last time Jake had been reminded of his time in prison. He was quieter and a bit more nervous about everything, and even though he didn’t actually visit the prison this time, it was clear that he was having some symptoms of PTSD. He told her about some of the things that happened while he was there, from solitary, to being beaten by guards, to just generally being in constant fear, so it didn’t surprise her that those memories, when they surfaced, were really painful and hard to get away from. 

Jake was put on medical leave for a week, and even though Amy’s maternity leave was supposed to be over a few days before Jake could come back, Captain Holt gave her an extension so she could make sure Jake was following his doctor’s orders, since they all knew that he would try to come back before he was ready. He also informed her that the case was all wrapped up, Alex was safe, and all the guilty parties had been caught. The following week was definitely not the easiest for Jake and Amy. Between having a baby that still needs all the same attention as before and a dad who is hurt enough to make life a bit more challenging, but not hurt enough to stop him from trying to help, their days have been rough. Additionally, nighttime was not great because, just like the last time Jake was reminded of prison, he was having nightmares almost every night, but this time, there was also a baby that was still not sleeping through the night. In short, they were all a bit more tired and grumpy than normal. Amy had noticed though that this time, Jake did much better with listening to her and following doctor’s orders, so he was healing quiet well, and by the end of his week of medical leave, he was just about back to normal, goofy Jake. Amy attributed it to the fact that he wanted to get better so he could get back to being the best dad he could be for Mac. He hadn’t said anything about it, but she could tell that being able to take care of Mac again was his greatest motivator. Also he was definitely getting stir crazy and wanted to get back to solving the dopest case he could find since he was basically just a giant child who was also now in charge of taking care of a tiny child.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
It had been a while since Amy had seen Jake so excited, but the night before they were both able to go back to work he was running all around the apartment with Mac, singing and laughing and being generally very Jake. He was saying that he was going to miss being able to spend the days with Mac, but he was really ready to get back to work. He even mentioned missing Charles a few times, even though he would never say that to him since it would probably kill him. The next morning when their alarms went off, both Jake and Amy got up and ready for work together for what felt like the first time in years, even though it had only been a few months. They were both excited, but also a little nervous because it was also the first time since Mac was born that they were both officially back to work. Amy had spent hours thinking about and writing draft after draft of what she was going to say at her morning briefing, but as they pulled up to work, Jake promised her that she was going to do great and that he was right upstairs if she needed anything and gave her a quick kiss before getting out of the car. As they were walking in together, Amy reminded him that he was still on desk duty until his ribs were healed, and for once, he actually didn’t argue with taking it easy for a few days. 

The next few days were pleasantly uneventful. Jake helped solve a few cases that the rest of the squad had been working on and needed a fresh set of eyes to look at and Amy finally got her uniformed officers to renew their filing system, which she considered to be quiet the accomplishment. Jake and Amy were even able to celebrate with the rest of the squad on Friday night at Shaw’s before picking up Mac and heading home. Life was finally getting back to normal. Or as close to normal as the Santiago-Peralta household ever is until the next dope case comes along.


End file.
